Monthly Archive for April, 2009

I thought you might like to learn about my bicycle this update. It is a Waterford, made in Waterford, WI. The president of the company is Richard Schwinn. The Schwinn company came upon hard financial times in the ‘90’s and the rights to the Schwinn name were purchased by a Chinese firm, who continues to manufacture bicycles under that trademark.

Part of the agreement, however, allowed Richard to retain ownership of the tooling for the high end Schwinn Paramont racing bicycle. He used this equipment and hired some engineers from the Schwinn factory, and formed the Waterford Precision Bicycle Company.

The Waterford line includes custom made steel frame bicycles. Today there are four common materials used for bikes: steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber. Because my initial plans were for long distance touring, and because of my age, I chose steel for it’s flexibility, strength, and lower cost. After having all pertinent measurements taken of my torso, arms, upper and lower legs, I chose the color and for a nominal sum, had Richard Schwinn autograph it.

The bare frame arrived at my local bicycle shop a few weeks later. Ken and the folks at ProForm Bicycle Shop supplied the necessary components and have continued to keep me current and increasingly lighter with a dizzying array of upgrades and replacement parts. Since this is my only bicycle, it likely has well over 15,000 miles on it since the original trip from Missouri to Michigan in 2006. It went cross country in 2007. Needless to say, it has gone through many chains, wheels, tires, tubes, cassettes, aero bars, cables, and other components.

Linda and I leave for Springfield, OH, on Wednesday.  After some genealogy work in Ohio, we will arrive at the race site on Friday night.  On Saturday is Calvin’s Challenge, with likely over 200 entries.  It is a 12 hour race.  My goals are a safe race and to ride over 200 miles.  Pray for these and that I find a like-minded and like-speeded group to ride in.

Here are a few pics.

The Bike

The Aerobars: elbows rest on the pads to right, hands on bars to left
The watch-like thing is the computer: heart rate, speed, cadence, altitude, etc.

Rear derailleur
Cassette: 10 gears, 12 teeth to 27 teeth

Chain ring: 52 teeth and 39 teeth gears

The seat: not cushy, but with a slippery Neopreme cover to prevent chaffing
The toolkit with a spare tube and tire changing stuff

Front wheel with speed sensor, carbon fiber forks, aerodynamic wheels

The autograph

The Heart of the South 200 is now in the books. As far as difficulty and performance, it was quite the best race I’ve biked so far. It had something for everyone. Nice flat areas for cruising along. That said, let it be dismissed. The key word for this race is climbing, climbing, climbing. Gentle slopes at the beginning and end of the race. Serious climbs in the middle. Probably the worst, however, were the “rollers” as we traversed a ridge line in preparation for the biggest climb of all, to the summit of Mount Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama. These rollers were serious … some over 100 feet, but all very steep. There were times when I looked down at my speedometer and saw 3.4 mph! I said to myself that I could likely walk faster than that. (never once did I succumb to that very real temptation, however)

"The Wall" - the steepest of the "rollers"

The result: 13 hours, 1 minute: 59 minutes better than my goal of 14 hours. This produced an average of 15.17 mph, and 15.17 points for the Ultracycling Cup competition, and at this point, $182.04 for the Memorial Christian Hospital renewal project. To top that off, Tom Robertshaw, the race director, contributed a generous donation from Athletes for Charitable Causes. All in all, a most memorable day of racing.

No Explanation Necessary

The real story of this race, however, is teamwork. The results would have been more in keeping with my goal were it not for one Martin Hukle. He is a UMCA racer from Texas who I met for the first time yesterday. We discovered early on that we race at about the same pace, climb at about the same strength. One major difference is that he doesn’t believe in long rest breaks. This kept us moving right along. With about 70 miles to go, I turned to him and said that he was free to go on ahead. It was clear to me that he was the more experienced racer, and that he had more gas in the tank than I did. He is a man of few words. “No!” was the response. “We’ll go at a nice easy pace, and you just hang on.” So from then one we dropped down to about an 18mph pace on the flat, and I hung on for dear life.

At the Top with Martin

The other member of the team, of course, is Linda. She was at every check point (about every 30 miles) and even one of our own toward the end of the race. The nutrition bottles were always ready, the chair (we found one that reclines!) set up. She made sure Martin’s needs were always met, also. She then drove to the next check point and repeated it all over again. She even had time to get a bit of knitting in!

The story behind the story is that I really need to pay more attention to nutrition and hydration. This was really my first race when I worked with a partner, and to the extent that I paid attention to drafting or leading, I neglected my nutrition and hydration. I just didn’t want to slow down long enough to eat and drink properly. I ended up with about ½ the nutrition that was necessary, and perhaps 2/3 the hydration. It took its toll.

All in all: a Great Race: Thanks Martin!